NRA and Guns Are Secondary Issues Compared to Outrage of D.C. Voting Rights

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I wrote my column this week on the issue of D.C. voting rights. Specifically, how secondary issues perpetually distract us from the fact that 600,000 American citizens are denied congressional representation.

This is an outrage. But people treat it like an amusing quirk or sidelight. At best they treat it like any other political issue. The latest example comes in the House of Representatives, where the National Rifle Association might derail the latest attempt to get those 600,000 Americans their full rights of citizenship.

600,000 D.C. residents are denied their full rights as citizens. Keep that figure in mind when you hear about gun votes, the NRA, and all the rest—secondary issues obscuring a fundamental injustice.

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